Because the President’s limousine passed almost exactly in front of Dallas clothing manufacturer Abraham Zapruder on Nov. 22, 1963, just as he was playing with his new film camera, and precisely at the moment that Lee Harvey Oswald fired his rifle from a nearby books depository, his silent, 26.6-second home movie has become the focal point of America’s collective memory on that weird day. For many of us, especially those who weren’t alive when it happened, we’re all watching that event through Zapruder’s lens.

Other footage from the scene turns up here and there, becomes fodder for documentaries (like this new one disproving the “second shooter” theory). But Zapruder’s film is still the canonical ur text of John F. Kennedy’s assassination, the most complete and most chilling visual record. In many ways, it prefigured all sorts of American pastimes, from widespread paranoia about government to a loss of faith in photographic truth and the news media, from the acceptance of graphic violence to newer concerns about copyright. Don DeLillo once said that the little film “could probably fuel college courses in a dozen subjects from history to physics.” Without the 486 frames of Kodachrome II 8mm safety film, our understanding of JFK’s assassination would likely be an even greater carnival of conspiracy theories than it already is. Well, maybe.

U.S. Olympic athletes, including Michael Phelps, Allyson Felix and Dana Vollmer, show off their skills during a portrait session with photographer Lucas Jackson in Dallas. Read Lucas’ behind the scenes account here.

I’ve been lucky enough to work with At The Drive-In on posters for their current run of Texas shows. They’re keeping things very secretive, so I won’t say what is or isn’t coming, but you should definitely check the merch table if you make it out to see them. Last night’s show in Austin (their first in over ten years) featured this mind-blower by Ken Taylor. It’s a 12″ x 36″ screenprint, and a small artist edition will be available online in the coming weeks (more info about that later). For now, enjoy!

Talk about a whirlwind day. Yesterday started out like any other for Dallas native Parrish Ruiz de Velasco. The 21-year-old freelance graphic designer and photographer was headed to work on a carpentry job in Ovilla, Texas, when he decided to ignore his GPS.

“As soon as I saw the swirling clouds, I knew it was going to be something cool. I went ahead and took the left turn instead of the right turn, just to chase it down and see if it turned into anything,” he says. “It ended up being a pretty big tornado that unfortunately messed up a lot of peoples’ homes.”

Ruiz de Velasco followed the storm for what he estimates to be about 15 miles, up I-35 toward Route 20, getting in front of the storm, before he did a u-turn. As always, he had his camera with him. He took a photo.

He didn’t end up making it to work. After submitting his picture to the Dallas Morning News via the paper’s website, the young photographer was called into the office, where he would spend the rest of the evening dealing with requests for the image. By the next day, the picture would have appeared on the front pages of 17 newspapers from the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post to papers in Montreal and Buenos Aires—and it will appear this coming week in TIME.

“They were pretty mad at me,” he says of his carpentry employers, to whom he had to make excuses on the day of the storm, “until this morning when they saw the newspaper.”

Ruiz de Velasco had never experienced a tornado before—and his home and family made it through yesterday unscathed—but he says he wasn’t scared, just excited, an excitement that persists even now that the weather in Texas is sunny and clear.

“It was pretty stupid. I had a lot of adrenaline going on,” he says. “It’s the crazy power of nature. I really wanted to capture that.”

Parrish Ruiz de Velasco is a Dallas-based photographer and designer. Check out his Facebook page here.

U.S. soldiers lay on the ground at the scene of a suicide attack in Maimanah, Faryab province, Afghanistan, Wednesday. A suicide bomber on a motorcycle at a market killed at least 11 people, including three Americans, according to Afghan and Western officials. (Gul Buddin Elham/Associated Press)

Baylor’s Brittney Griner, right, blocked the shot of Notre Dame’s Kayla McBride during the first half of their women’s NCAA championship college basketball game in Denver Tuesday. Baylor won, 80-61. (Mark Leffingwell/Reuters)

Tiger Woods teed off during a practice round Wednesday before the start of the 2012 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Ga. (Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images)

The Smithsonian magazine's 9th annual photo contest finalists have been chosen. The contest attracted over 14 thousand photographers from all 50 states and over 100 countries. Fifty finalists from 67,059 images were selected by Smithsonian editors. Those editors will also choose the Grand Prize Winner and the winners in each of the five categories which include The Natural World, Americana, People, Travel and Altered Images. Photos were selected based on technical quality, clarity and composition, a flair for the unexpected and the ability to capture a picture-perfect moment. (Smithsonian invites everyone to select an additional "Readers' Choice" winner by voting through March for their favorite image on line.) -- Paula Nelson (25 photos total)BEHIND THE BLUE Lilongwe, Malawi, May 2011 (Paolo Patruno/Bologna, Italy)